The present invention relates generally to making electric motors, and more particularly to a method for making a low cost stator for an electric motor.
A conventional electric motor includes: a cylindrical metal stator; a metal rotor located radially within the stator and having two end shafts; and a metal housing which has bearings engaging the end shafts of the rotor and which surrounds and supports the metal stator. The stator for a conventional AC electric motor includes a stack of identical annular disks. Each disk is a monolithic steel piece which has been metal-punched to create a stamping. Each stamping includes a circumferentially-continuous ring portion having circumferentially spaced-apart and radially-inwardly projecting spokes with flared free-ends. The slot between circumferentially-adjacent spokes narrows to a slit at the spoke free-ends. Adjacently-stacked steel disks have their spokes aligned and their slots aligned. The stack of steel disks may be held together by bolts passing through holes in the ring portion of each disk. Each stack of aligned spokes defines a stator pole with each "stack" of aligned slots defining a longitudinally-extending groove. An insulated copper coil is wound around each stator pole. The electric motor stator includes the stacked disks and the wound coils. It is noted that each longitudinally-extending groove accommodates a portion of two coils since each groove is bounded by two stator poles. Complicated and expensive machinery is used to wind the coil for each stator pole since the stator poles are radially-inwardly projecting and since the longitudinally-extending groove separating circumferentially-adjacent poles narrows to a slit at the pole free-ends. What is needed is a less expensive method for making an electric motor stator.